So, I call up a friend of mine in Pennsylvania.  His dad picks up and my friend Sandor isn’t home.  We get to talking for a few minutes and I tell him who I am.  I explain that I am Sandor’s friend and that my name is “Byung.”  He retorts, “Bee-yoooooouuuuung?”  I said, “Yes, it’s Byung.”  He asks what my last name is.  I tell him “Na.”  He rebutts, “Bee-yoooooouuuuunggg Naaaaaaah?”  I say “yes.”  He asks me, “Do you know what ‘Byung Na’ means in Korean?” I tell him no.  I just say I know it’s my name.

“No, seriously, I want you to send it up to room shit, shit…” So, I literally could say this when ordering food from any of the local restaurants. Let me explain why…

I was reminded of the humorous nature of my condo unit number (”officetel” is the literal Korean name for condos) while going to the dry cleaners today. I live in unit 1818, which is pronounced “Ship-pahlr, Ship-pahlr” if you just say “18-18″ in Korean.

In a country where television dramas reign “Queen” (as opposed to “King” — women really have strong influence in this country), you would think that all that television watching and less social interaction as a result would decrease peoples’ ability to be social. However, it won’t be all the television watching that will probably do it. It will most likely be the way they communicate these days instead of calling each other on the phone.

From 1st graders to most 6th grades and almost every living person over the age of a middle school student, South Korea has cell phones in each of the hands of its’ consumers.

So, I’ll probably explain more about the “reasons for going back to Korea,” but one reason that definitely stands out that is a very strong justification for the migration back: cost of living.

I didn’t expect this, to be frank. I came back originally to escape many of the pressures of life that seem to be overwhelming in Issaquah. However, after moving here, I’ve been making a bit less than in the U.S. The year before I entered the Real Estate business, I topped out at about $63k/year plus options and other benefits at Expedia. It wasn’t a bad salary, but we were still going into further and further in debt. My year in Real Estate generated about $130k in income…maybe more…probably closer to $150k, but

I’m blogging a mile a minute, but most of you don’t want to know about all the other blogs or what I’m doing daily at work or all the aspirations I have.  Rather, you probably want to just know how the boys are, how JY is doing or how life is…so I’ve finally decided to just update you on the “goings on” in my life here instead of what I’ve been blogging in all the other sites.

First question you guys ask: How are the boys?